John G. C. Brainard

(1796-1828)

John Gardiner Calkins Brainard with the son of a Connecticut judge; he attended Yale College (B.A. 1815) and studied law with his older brother before setting up a practice at Middletown, Connecticut (1819). Brainard was the editor of the Connecticut Mirror from 1822 until, suffering from consumption, he was forced to retire in 1827. Most of his poetry appeared in the Mirror, though Brainard also contributed to The Microscope. He published a volume of poems in 1825; his later poems appear in Remains, published in 1832 with a memorable biographical sketch by John Greenleaf Whittier.